Eat Like A Japanese – 11 Dishes You Must Try

by Maria Last updated on July 11, 2017 45 comments

It is official, Japan is one of the best culinary countries in the world! In December 2013 Washoku, the traditional cuisine of Japan, was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage asset by UNESCO. Tokyo is thereby the unofficial culinary capital of the world, beating all other cities in terms of number of Michelin star restaurants (currently 14 with top star rating).

When we started planning our trip to Japan, my first though when it came to food was sushi, but Japanese food is so much more than sushi! Japanese cuisine is one of the world`s most diverse, with fresh vegetables, all sorts of meats and sea food, both raw, cooked and grilled. Enjoying this country`s delicious cuisine is a big reason for visiting Japan!

Japan is a small country compared to many other countries in the world, but every region and island has its own specialty when it comes to food. It is said that Japan has the highest number of restaurants per inhabitants of any country. One reason for this is that few Japanese take their guests home for dinner, instead they prefer to meet out at restaurants. Most restaurants in Japan are specialty restaurants, specializing in one dish or one type of cuisine. That way they become very good at it! Smart huh? 🙂

11 Japanese Food Dishes You Must Try

1. Ramen

You will find Ramen (ラーメン) basically all over Japan, on almost every street corner. It is a wheat noodle soup dish that was originally imported from China. It is one of the most popular and inexpensive dishes in Japan. Ramen restaurants, or ramen-ya, can be found everywhere in Japan, and they serve countless regional variations of this common noodle dish.

Shoyu Ramen is the most common type of Ramen. This is usually what is served when the menu does not specify a specific type of soup. Shoyu Ramen is clear, brown broth flavored noodle soup with soy sauce (shoyu).

The soup is usually made of chicken broth but often contains other meats such as pork, beef or fish depending on the region. It usually also contain hard-boiled egg and different vegetables, such as onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, seaweed and corn.

Ramen with pork broth, mushrooms and bean sprouts.

Ramen are eaten with chopsticks, and as the noodles get soggy pretty quickly you should eat them immediately after they are served. As with other noodle dishes in Japan, a slurping sound is made when eating ramen. You can actually find Ramen restaurants by it`s sound. 🙂 The slurping has several purposes however, as it enhances the flavors and helps cool down the boiling hot noodles as they enter your mouth. So remember to slurp as much as you possibly can when eating Ramen, it is not considered impolite! 🙂

Ramen is popular as a lunch dish, and is considered a fast-food. At some Ramen restaurants you choose what kind of Ramen you want from a vending machine, pay and get a ticket that you hand over to the chef. And voila you get your Ramen served at your table. Easypeacy! 🙂

A Ramen vending machine at a restaurant in Tokyo.

2. Okonomiyaki

Is it a pancake? Or is it a pizza? Hmm, Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a real must when it comes to what Japanese food to try, as it is delicious! It is pan fried and consists of batter and cabbage. Different toppings and ingredients are added, anything from sliced meat and seafood to wasabi and cheese. This variability is what gave it it`s name “Okonomi”, which means “to one’s liking”.

Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style with a layer of fried Soba noodles.

You will find Okonomiyaki all over Japan in restaurants that specialize in the dish, but it is most popular in the west, particularly the cities of Hiroshima and Osaka which have their own variations. We had Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima and Kyoto, and they were very different. The Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki includes a layer of fried Soba noodles.

At some Okonomiyaki restaurants the dining tables are each equipped with an iron griddle (“teppan”), and customers are given the ingredients to cook the Okonomiyaki themselves.

Okonomiyaki at a restaurant in Kyoto.

3. Udon

Udon (うどん) are thick white noodles made of wheat flour. They are thicker than Soba and Ramen noodles, whiter and chewier. Udon is very popular and available at specialty Udon restaurants (Udon-Ya) all over Japan, which usually also serve Soba noodles. Udon are served both hot and cold, with or without soup, and sometimes with vegetables, egg and meat.

The same goes for Udon as for Ramen and Soba – making a slurping sound when eating Udon is mandatory! 🙂

Cold Udon noodles with soup, lemon and onions. Served with chopped cabbage and deep fried chicken on the side.

4. Sushi

Sushi (すし, 寿司, 鮨) is raw fish and seafood packed together with rice and vegetables into beautiful pieces. Each little piece is almost like an art!

Sushi dates all the way back to the 4th Century BC, as a way to preserve the fish (sprinkled with salt and encased in rice).

Tokyo has some of the best Sushi restaurants in the world. You will however not find fresher Sushi than from the Sushi shops found around the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

All kinds of sushi, sashimi and nigiri are sold at the Tsukiji Fish Market in TokyoDSC00049

Did you know that it takes three (Yes, 3!!) years just to learn how to cook the Sushi rice properly?! And that it takes eight years to learn how to make Sushi right! It sure is an art-form!

5. Yuba

Yuba is a popular traditional dish in the Nikko area (north of Tokyo). Yuba is the skin that forms when making tofu out of soy beans. It is cut into stripes and used in everything from Udon dishes to Sashimi to fried bean buns. To tell you the truth, it doesn`t taste very much! 🙂

Yuba served with Udon noodle soup.

6. Soba

Soba (そば) are noodles made of buckwheat flour, which make them grey/brownish in color. They are a Tokyo`s favorite, and date back to the Edo period (1603-1868) when they became popular among Samurais.

Soba noodles are roughly as thick as spaghetti and prepared in various hot and cold dishes with and without soup. They can be served with vegetables, tempura, raw egg and meat. Soba dishes are very popular and easy to find across Japan. Since 100% buckwheat Soba noodles tend to be brittle, many restaurants add some wheat flour when preparing their noodles.

Soba dishes comes in many different variations, but the most basic Soba dish is Mori Soba in which boiled, cold Soba noodles are eaten with a soya based dipping sauce (Tsuyu). You can also have green Soba, which is Green Tea Soba (Matcha Soba), where buckwheat flour are mixed with green tea powder.

Green Tea Soba noodle soup.

Most of the Soba dishes are eaten throughout the year, but some are only available seasonally. A special kind of Soba dish is Toshikoshi Soba, a symbol of longevity, that is only eaten on New Year’s Eve.

Soba is served in special Soba and Udon restaurants, and also when eating Soba slurping is very normal and expected! 🙂

7. Tempura

Japan can thank the Portuguese for Tempura (天ぷら or 天麩羅), as it was Jesuit missionaries in Nagaski who first introduced Japan to the art of batter frying in the 16th century. Tempura is chunks of seafood and vegetables dipped in a light batter and cooked in canola and sesame oil. The end result is far less stodgy than other deep-fried food that we have in the West. Tempura is normally eaten together with a bowl of rice.

Tempura of fish, mushroom, shrimp and basil.

8. Dumplings – Gyoza

Japan does not really have a “street-food” culture as other Asian countries like Thailand, but Gyoza or steamed Dumplings are the sort of food that you will find sold at street stalls around Japan and at train stations. It is originally Chinese, but has become very popular all over Japan.

The dumplings have different kind of filling, like pork, beef, chicken, vegetables and beans.

Dumplings with beef filling in TakayamaDSC03207

Dumplings with bean paste filling_DSC0683

9. Yakiniku

Yakiniku is the Japanese version of barbecue, which invites diners to cook slices of meat and vegetables on a plate or griddle in the middle of the table. Beef and offal are the most popular options at Yakiniku restaurants, but also pork, chicken and seafood are usually on the menu.

Yakitori – Spits with chicken and internal organs roasted on coals

If you are feeling really hungry, visit a Yakiniku that offers Tabehodai (all-you-can-eat), and stuff yourself silly! 🙂

Korean style barbecued meat

10. Horse

Ever tried horse meat?! It is a BIG thing in Japan, and especially Tokyo. It was a popular horse restaurant right across the street from our hotel, so of course we had to check it out. And it did actually taste pretty good, but the sashimi (raw horse meat) was a little bit tough to chew.

Horse Nigiriphoto 1-1

Greek salad with raw horse meatphoto 4-2

Horse Meat with bean spoutsphoto 5-2

11. Japanese sweets

Japan sweets are really nice, cute and colourful, some of the most delicate sweets I have ever seen. Each piece looks like a piece of art. Japanese usually drink green tea together with sweets.

A typical green tea set is San-ten Nama Youkan & Macha Set. Youkan is a typical Japanese sweet made of jellied bean paste. They usually come in three different colors; brown is made of black soy beans, yellow/green is made of green soy beans while purple is made of purple sweet potato.

San-ten Nama Youkan and Matcha Set at a restaurant in Nikko. Japanese Matcha tea is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea. It is super healthy!

The Japanese also make delicious small cakes, in different cute shapes like birds, leaves, trees and fish. One typical and popular cookie is Ningyo-yaki that you will see in all souvenir shops around Japan. Ningyo-yaki are made from fluffy batter filled with sweet bean paste, and they come in all different shapes from Hello Kitty to cute birds.

Small cute cakes served with green tea at the Ryokan we stayed at in Takayama. They are filled with sweet bean paste. A sarubobo (さるぼぼ?) is a Japanese amulet, particularly associated with the town of Takayama. The cakes are in the shape of Sarubobos, red human-shaped dolls, with no facial features, made in a variety of sizes. Traditionally, Sarubobos are made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as dolls, and for their daughters as a charm for good marriage, good children and to ensure a well-rounded couple. I am not sure if eating a Sarubobo will give a good marriage or not…hmm…

Delicious cakes in the shape of fish filled with chocolate, vanilla or sweet bean paste bough in Matsumoto. Yummi!

“Fish” cakes filled with dark soft chocolate. Mmmmmm

Ice-cream is extremely popular in Japan, especially shaved ice (yep, normal frozen ice cubes that are shaved into small pieces) with different toppings.

A woman selling shaved ice at Miyajima IslandDSC05708

Shaved ice with strawberry sauceDSC05709

The Japanese are crazy about sweets and candy. They have some of the finest and most delicate candy and sweets, often with green tea flavor.

Cute candy in the shape of birdsDSC01380

Delicious Kyoto candy, with peach and green tea flavorDSC05128

Candy in the shape of apples and birdsDSC01379

The End

Japan really surprised us with its cuisine, it is very tasty and healthy with a great variety. They really put their pride into their cooking and their food, and it is all very clean as hygiene is very important in Japan. One can find food at different price ranges, although the food is on average more expensive than in the other Asian countries. Japan has food for everybody, whether you like seafood, raw food, strange meat, vegetables or noodles….they have it all! So eating should definitely be a big part of your Japan journey!

Japan sure has some awesome restaurants making some of the best food in the world, BUT most of the restaurants in Japan allow smoking inside. Not so cool for us non-smokers! 🙁

What I also LOVE about Japan is that you always get a wet towel (hot or cold) to wash your hands (NOT your face or other body parts! 🙂 ) before the meal. It is super refreshing! I also love that they always serve cold water and/or green tea automatically, you don`t even have to ask or pay for it, and they refill your glass constantly! Very nice for thirsty tourists. 🙂

Lovely wet towelDSC07512

Do NOT do this with the towel like this crazy woman (Eh...me) does! Very very bad and impolite!DSC06403

Refreshing green teaDSC01966

Travel Guides

We used the Lonely Planet`s Japan travel guide on our trip. You can get that and other great books by clicking on the pictures below:

If you want to make some of these delicious dishes at home, these books are what you need:

PIN IT FOR LATER!Hoover over the pictures below, and press the green PIN IT button that pops up:

Do any of these dishes look tempting? Can you see yourself trying horse meat? Have you tried any of these dishes? What is your favorite Japanese food? Have we missed any Japanese must-try dishes in our list? Please leave a comment in the comment area below. Thank you! 🙂

Maria is a Norwegian travel nerd, who has explored more than thirty countries on four continents. She holds a masters degree in Computer Science, as well as an MBA. See our about page for more about Maria.

45 Comments

WOW! These are the most gorgeous and appetizing pictures of food ever! And now I’m hungry… especially for that sushi and soba. I don’t think I can try horse meat though… it just sounds so… barbaric, lol. But I applaud you for trying it! There may be a chance that I’m going to Japan next spring/summer… I can’t wait to eat (most of) this stuff there!

Thank you so much Anna!! Japan has some of the best Sushi in the world, so that is a real must if you go to Japan. Hehe, yep, the horse meat (especially the raw sushi version that we had….) was a challenge to chew but it did actually not taste that bad! 🙂

I already miss the great food in Japan! That 3D printer sounds like a great idea….hehe….maybe it is possible one day, who knows?! 🙂

We plan to have a blog post about the costs in Japan, but I can tell you that it was expensive! Especially hotels, transportation and ticket prices to sights. But you can find cheap food, like noodle dishes for about 6 us$. But food in supermarkets was expensive, especially fruits and vegetables. It felt like we were back in Europe actually price wise. So we went way over budget during our five weeks in Japan. Nice to be back in low cost countries again! 🙂

I personally love japanese food but my absolute favourite is actually the don! They have all kinds of dons so i usually have one depending on my mood. This is a pretty good list though! It is pretty comprehensive…:)

Thanks James! 🙂 Wow, teaching in Korea sounds like a great experience!

We were actually thinking about going to Korea while we were in Japan, since it is so close. But having spent too much money in Japan, we had to head back to some cheaper Asian countries. 🙂 Would love to visit Korea some day! Did you visit North Korea?

Thanks Emma! Wow, we had the same idea, that we would loose some weight, hehe! 🙂 But I actually think we did, because we walked so much, plus drank so much green tea. Japanese food is very healthy, with less fat and sugar than Western food.

Maria, Great list. I’ve tried them all (many times) except for Yuba…maybe because I only went to Nikko once. Maybe I’ll get to do it next time I go…next summer, perhaps. Your photos make me miss Japan a lot…gorgeous.

Hmm, yeah it might be a little difficult being a vegan in Japan, especially outside of the major cities. In the big cities however, like Tokyo and Kyoto, they have just about any conceivable food available. I´m sure it can be done, but I would research a little before going. Find some Japanese dishes that satisfies your vegan diet, and also bring some Japanese phrases to explain, since English is not spoken everywhere. But yeah, the Green Tea diet is always an option, hehe.

We were not too fond of the fact that they allow smoking inside restaurants and cafes either. It is so strange, because smoking is prohibited outside on the streets! There are non-smoking signs everywhere on the pavements, and smoking is only allowed in dedicated areas outside. The opposite of most other countries in the world.

Conveyer belt sushi , how I miss thee. I spent almost $1000 on food during my 7.5 weeks in Japan. That was my biggest expense. Coming from NY, the whole smoking inside thing drove me up a wall. I absolutely hated that.

Hehe, yeah it is so much delicious food to try out in Japan, Melissa. We have probably only covered a small part of the Japanese cuisine in this post.

We spent a lot of money on food too, but we have not dared to do add up our expenses from our five weeks in Japan yet. 🙂 Have just noticed from our bank statement that we spent A LOT of money there! But hotels and food were probably our biggest expenses.

Ah, we so hated the smoking inside as well! It seems like smoking is very popular and trendy in Japan. Almost everybody smoked, especially inside restaurants and cafes. Very annoying! We actually ended up leaving a couple of restaurants before we had ordered anything because it was just too grey and smokey there. Poor chefs and waitresses that have to work in that kind of smokey environment day after day.

I LOVE LOVE Japanese food. I think if I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life, it would have to be Japanese (despite my adoration for all things Chinese as well). You shot some great photos and I’m hungry despite having just eaten lunch. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is horse, but of course, I haven’t tried any of these in Japan. Gotta go asap.

Thank you so much Adelina!! There is nothing like eating Japanese food in Japan! 🙂 Japanese and Chinese food are a bit similar, and some of the Japanese noodle dishes for instance actually comes from China originally, but is served with a Japanese twist in Japan. You definitely have to try horse when you visit Japan! It is a bit challenging though. 🙂

Wow! Not sure if it’s a good thing that we stumble upon your post just two hours after having lunch. Because now, we’re craving for a bowl of ramen! We’re visiting Japan this fall and can’t wait to try these authentic foods.

I am craving for a hot bowl of noodles too, always! 🙂 Simply love noodles, especially Udon which is my favourite. It is thicker than Ramen. There are so much delicious food to try out in Japan, so you got something to look forward to.

Have an awesome trip to Japan Sheila & Rap! I`m sure you will love it as much as we did.

I love Japanese food, so this list is exactly what I’ve needed. I’ve never seen Ramen made like the picture before, but it looks delicious. I’ve never heard of Okonomiyaki before, but i really like the sound of it! I really want to try everything in these photos now.

Thank you so much, Petunia! Japan has some of the best food in the world, in my opinion. I had hardly tried any Japanese food before going to Japan, so visiting this beautiful country was a real eye-opener foodwise. Ah, I sure miss Udon noodles, my favourite.

Thank you very much for the post but as a Japanologist I see a few mistakes here. for instance the history of sushi or Tenpura and not Tempura or the second picture of the sushi which is a western sushi and you wouldn’t find sushi looking like that in Japan. it’d be great if you could correct them. Thanks again for the information.

Thank you for pointing this out! Sadly I don`t speak much Japanese, but you are right, it looks like the word for this Japanese dish (battered and deep-fried seafood and vegetables) is written Tempura but pronounced Tenpura, at least according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura.

We ate this sushi at a real Japanese restaurant, but it might be that it was a bit western oriented kind of sushi, made for tourists. It was very tasty, however! 🙂

The picture of your dish of tuna and shrimp from your ryokan, you described it as “sushi” but it is not sushi because it has no rice – it is sashimi. Sashimi is raw flesh by itself. Sushi is anything (animal or vegetable) pressed with sushi rice, such as rolls, handrolls, nigiri, etc.

Likewise you labeled the horse meat as sashimi but it’s actually nigiri. Nigiri is a type of sushi that consists of a piece of flesh or vegetable pressed over a ball of rice.

Thank you so much for pointing this out! I am not very familiar with either sushi, nigiri or sashimi, so it is great to learn what the difference is! Thanks for commenting! I will sure fix this error immediately.

So happy to hear that my article could be of help to you on your Geography assignment! Yeah, those cakes shaped like fish are delicious! You can choose between vanilla, chocolate or caramel fillings. You will love them! I had too many of those….. 🙂

Nice page! We just got back from Japan and i must say we didn’t see the horse meat anywhere but we did have some nice Wagyu! Top class! We tasted the kobe but also the ishigaki beef on the Okinawa islands.